Railway spike



eineN er nl W1 f 'fre "er frei uw .n t. A. i n if) ...e il all l ic leHUBERT E. HARRIS, 0F JONESBORO, ANI) JAlJIES H. DO'WNEY, OF GADTESVILLE,

GEORGIA.

iaieeie.

Application filed February ill, i822.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that we, HUBERT E. Hei-:nts and JAMES H. Downer, citizensoit the United States, and residents, respectively7 oi Jonesboro7 in thecounty ot Clayton and State of Georgia, and oi Gainesville, in thecounty of llall and State oi Georgia, have invented certain new anduseful linprove4 nients in Railway Spikes, oi which the tol lowing is aspecification.

The invention relates to railway spikes, and has as an object theprovision oit a spike which will be prevented troni lifting out of thetie 'by coaction with the underside oit the rail, or a tie plateunderlying the rail.

A further object oi' the invention is the provision oi' a spike whichwill offer greater resistance to withdrawal than spikes now in use.

An illustrative embodiment or' the invention is shown in theaccompanying drawing, in which- Figure l is a vertical transversesection through a rail and a portion oi' a tie showing the spike inelevation Jr'or use with a tie plate;

Fig. 2 is a sinnlar view showing aspike in use without a tie plate, thespike beingl slight-ly modified in form;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a portion ot a rail showing a spike inelevation and a portion of a tie in section and,

F ig. l is a view showing a rail in section illustrating the position inwhich the spike is held at starting7 drawn upon a reduced scale.

The forni of the inventionshown in Fig. l is adapted i'ior use with atie plate l0 shown as having ribs ll on the lower side, the outer edgesof the ribs being located so as to tall verticall;7 under the edges ot.the base l2 of the rail 13. rl"he ribs ll are shown as cutting into thematerial oi' the tie li upon which the rail is ci Tied. To permit ot'placing of the spike l5 the plate is providel with apertures 16 atYsuitable points, the apertures being slightly wider than the stock ofthe. spike.

rlhe spike embodying the invention has usual head 17 provided with theusual o hanging lip 18. Below the lip on the inside of the spike is astraight vertical portion which is adapted to conie opposite the base oithe rail and the thickness oic the tie piate Specification of Lettersatent.

Patented 23, i922..

Serial No. 536,466.

ll. `@pposite the straight portion l?) is a se ond straight portion 20,so that the spike itc short distance below the head is parallel sidedand vertical when in place.

Below thev straight portioirreferred to the spike is bodily oli'set inthe direction olZ the lip 18. The width ot the spike throughout to thepoint 2l, where the reduction in width to torni the point is begun, issub stantialqY uniform. The otlsct below the `Mrrllei sided portionabove reiterred to pi -fide-is at Q2 an inclined portion which underliesthe adjacent edge ot the rib 1l and will come in coinact therewith i'the spike attempts to lift in the tie. Opposite this inclined portionthe oiiset referred to provides a cani surface which serves, while thevspike is being driven, to torce the spike toward the rail by contactwith the material ol2 the tie. At the point 24 the offset upon the backoi the spike ends and the surface of the spike from this point downwardagain becomes vertical and is continuous to the point oit' the spilre.The front oi the spike also has a sraight portion 26 opposite thestraight. port-ion at the back ,troni a point .JG to the point 2lalready referred to. The curved portion 9,7 b v which the point ot thespilre is itorined acts as a cani surface during the lirst portion ofthe driving ol the spike.

The spilre is driveii. by starting it in the position Shown in Fig. Ll,slanted away i'roin the rail. and with the tangent QS to the curve 27 atthe point o'll the spil-:e substantialljyv vertical. is the spilreenters the wood the cani snriface 2T will torce the point oi the spiketo the. right, seen in F 1i, therebj,v bringing the spike toward thevertical. TWhen the surface 21% cornes in contactl with the opening i6in the tie plate and later with the inaterial et the tie lil the spikewill be Yiiorced bodilyY 'toward the rail, and at the completion et thedriving the inclined portion 22 ot the spike will underlie the tie plateand eliectuall).v prevent anyY tendency to litt out otthe tie.

The torni ot the invention. shown in Fig. 2 is exact-ly similar inaction to that shown in Fig. l, the onlyv difference being that thevertical portion 19 is shortened to compensate Jlor the absence oft thethickness of the tie plate. rlhe inclined portion 22 underlies the railexactl)7 as the portion 22 underlies the tie plate and the cani surfaces23 and 27 acting during driving exactly as do the corresponding canisurfaces in the forni shown in Fig. l.

rl'he point of the spike, as shown in Fig. 3, is preferably providedwith a plurality of notches 29 to lessen the surface which penetratesthe wood in the starting of the spike so that the saine may be caused tostand ready for driving` with less application of force.

Tests made upon the resistance of the spike to withdrawal establish thata substantially greater force is required to pull the spike froin thetie than is the case with the straight spikes in common use at thepresent. This is true when the spike is driven into a block in theabsence of a rail or tie plate. When in use the weight upon the rail, inaddition to its action directly upon the surface 22, acts to hold downthe libres of the tie which libres inust yield upwardly to allow the tieto be lifted vertically. rllherefore the resistance to liftinp` is verymuch greater than that of the usual straight spike. rlhe tendency of arail to tip over under thrust of wheel flanges, especially on curvesprovides a very great pulling force upon the spikes, so much so thatupon curves where tra-flic is heavy it is necessary to send track nienfrequently to drive the spikes down.

The forrn of spike illustrated by the present invention is such that theweight of slower moving traffic upon the .rails positively returns toplace any spike which nia-y have been started, so that no diflic-ulty isfound with lifting spikes. The spike provided by the present inventioncan be readily withdrawn by placing' a claw bar across the head of therail, giving the spike an outward and upward pull to start it, afterwhich it may be withchfawn in the usual manner.

Minor changes niay be inade in the physical embodiment of the inventionwithout departing from its spirit.

Having thus described our invention what wek claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

l. A railway spike coniprisinpa head, au overlapping, lip, aperpendicular surface beneath said lip adapted 'to come opposite objectsto be held, a surface below said perpendicular surface inclined downwardand away from the plane thereof and adapted :israelo to underlie heldobjects, a perpendicular surface on the back of said spike opposite saidfirst named perpendicular surface, a cani surface below saidperpendicular surface adapted to throw said inclined surface under heldobjects by contact with the material into which the spike is driven.

2. A railway s pike comprising a head lia-ving an overhangingv lip, asurface below said lip inclined downward and in the direction ofoverhang` of said lip and adapted to underlie an object to be held bysaid lip` a cani surface opposite said inclined surface adapted to throwsaid inclined surface under the object to be held by contact with thematerial into which the spike is driven.

3. A railway spike comprising, in combination, a head having anoverhanging lip, a surface below said lip inclined downward and in thedirection of overhang of said lip and adapted to underlie an object tobe held by said lip, a cani surface opposite said inclined surface andupon ythe back of the spike adapted to throw said inclined surface underan object to be held, a perpendicular portion below said inclinedsurface and cam surface, and aV oint sloped away from the front of thespike so as to turn thespike in the tie with the head pressed toward theobject to be held.

e. A. railway spike comprising, in combination, a head having anoverhanging lip, parallel vertical surfaces upon the front and back ofthe spike adjacent the head, a body offset in said spike toward thefront side thereof below said vertical surfaces providing,` a downwardlyand forwardly inclined surface upon the front of the spike to underlie aheld object, and a cam surface on the back the spike to throw saidinclined surface toward the object when the spike is driven, parallelvertical surfaces upon the front and back of the spike below said lastnained offset, the vertical surface on the back of the spike extendingto the point thereof, a curved cani surface extendingl from the secondnained vertical surface on the front of the spike to the point thereof,said last ynained cain surface. adapted to throw the spike to a verticalposition after being started into a tie in a slanting position.

HUBERT E. HAR-RES. JAWES H. DONEY.

